Method and apparatus for automated training of language learning skills

ABSTRACT

A computer program for execution on a computing device is provided to cross-train students in language development skills such as letter-word correspondence, word recognition, vocabulary, and sentence and paragraph comprehension. A set of programs provide an adaptive methodology for training a student in decoding (semantic, syntactic, phonological, and morphological relationships), knowledge of rhymes, synonyms, antonyms, and homophones, spelling, letter-word correspondences, sentence comprehension, grammatical comprehension, working memory, vocabulary, paragraph comprehension, and improved reading comprehension. In each program, students are presented with an animated scene that poses a question, and a set of answers. The set of answers contain a correct response, and a number of incorrect responses or foils. The student advances to more complex levels by satisfying predetermined correct thresholds. Through repetition and intensity, the student&#39;s language skills are developed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/788,182, filed Feb. 26, 2004, which was a continuation of U.S. Pat.No. 6,726,486, issued Apr. 27, 2004, both having common inventors andcommon assignee. This application is also related to the followingapplications: Serial Filing Docket No. No. Date Title SLC.0006-C2 METHODAND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED TRAINING OF LANGUAGE LEARNING SKILLSSLC.0006-C3 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED TRAINING OF LANGUAGELEARNING SKILLS SLC.0006-C4 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED TRAININGOF LANGUAGE LEARNING SKILLS

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates in general to the field of language education,and more specifically to a computer program for training a human'slanguage learning skills.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Decades of research in the fields of education and cognitive psychologyhave shown that the following skills are critical to learning to readproficiently:

-   -   Phonemic awareness    -   Letter-word correspondence skills    -   Fluent word recognition    -   Vocabulary    -   Comprehension skills    -   Appreciation of literature

Once students have developed good phonemic awareness skills, researchstrongly supports concurrent training of the other five reading skills(letter-word correspondences, word recognition, vocabulary,comprehension, and appreciation of literature) as the next step towardsreading fluency. Students learn to read most proficiently and quicklywhen all these skills are taught at the same time rather thansequentially.

Phonemic awareness is part of a broader skill set called phonologicalawareness, which is the ability to recognize and use all sizes of soundunits, such as words, syllables, and phonemes. An extremely successfulset of programs have been developed by Scientific Learning Corporation.They are called Fast ForWord Language, Fast ForWord Middle and HighSchool, and Fast ForWord Language to Reading, information for which maybe found at www.scientificlearning.com. However, up to this time, therehas not been a program that adequately teaches the other five skillsmentioned above, once phonological awareness has been developed.

Neuroscientific research has also found that there is a potentcombination of elements that lead to efficient learning of new tasks andconcepts:

-   -   Frequency    -   Intensity    -   Cross-training    -   Adaptivity    -   Motivation and attention

What is needed is a program that incorporates the elements of frequency,intensity, cross-training, adaptivity, and motivation, while trainingstudents on foundational language skills such as letter-wordcorrespondences, word recognition, vocabulary, comprehension, andappreciation of literature.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a method for cross-training a student indecoding, spelling, sentence comprehension and paragraph comprehensionso that s/he may become a better reader, and a better learner. Morespecifically, the method utilizes a computing device to train a studentin semantic, syntactic, phonological and morphological categories, withthe method adaptively presenting the training in an entertaining wayaccording to the skill level of the student.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method on a computingdevice for training a student's morphological comprehension. The methodincludes the steps of: providing a plurality of paragraphs forpresentation to the student on the computing device, each of theplurality of paragraphs having a target word missing; providing aplurality of target words, each associated with at least one of theplurality of paragraphs; providing a plurality of foil words, eachassociated with at least one of the plurality of paragraphs; presentingone of the plurality of paragraphs to the student, along with anassociated target word, and at least one of the associated foil words;requiring the student to select between the presented target word andthe at least one of the associated foil words, to be the missing targetword; recording whether the student selected the missing target word;and repeating said steps of presenting thru recording for each of theplurality of paragraphs.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method on a computerfor training a student's reading comprehension, the method utilizing aplurality of tiers of training, each of the tiers having a plurality ofparagraphs, each of the plurality of paragraphs having one or moremissing target words. The method includes: providing a plurality oftarget words, each associated with at least one of the plurality ofparagraphs; providing a plurality of foil words, each associated with atleast one of the plurality of target words; presenting one of theplurality of paragraphs to the student, along with an associated one ofthe plurality of target words, and at least one of its associated foilwords; requiring the student to select between the associated one of theplurality of target words and the at least one of its associated foilwords as the missing target word in the presented paragraph; recordingwhether the student correctly selected the one of the plurality oftarget words as the missing target word in the presented paragraph;repeating said steps of presenting thru recording for each of theplurality of paragraphs within a tier.

Other features of the present invention will become apparent upon studyof the remaining portions of the specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer environment upon whichthe present invention can be utilized.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of login screen for Fast ForWord Reading,according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a screen shot of a game selection screen for Fast ForWordReading, according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a screen shot of an opening scene in the game Scrap Cat.

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of a beginning trial for the game Scrap Cat.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot showing a word definition box within the gameScrap Cat.

FIG. 7 is a screen shot showing categorization of a word within the gameScrap Cat.

FIG. 8 is a screen shot showing an animation pertaining to a correctcategorization within the game Scrap Cat.

FIG. 9 is a screen shot showing categorization of a word within threecategories within the game Scrap Cat.

FIG. 10 is a screen shot showing categorization of a word within fourcategories within the game Scrap Cat.

FIG. 11 is a screen shot of a reward animation within the game ScrapCat.

FIG. 12 is a screen shot of four morphological categories into which aword is to be categorized, within the game Scrap Cat.

FIG. 13 is a screen shot indicating correct categorization of the wordshown in FIG. 12 within the game Scrap Cat.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart illustrating game flow within the game ScrapCat.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart illustrating progress advancement within thegame Scrap Cat.

FIG. 16 is a screen shot of an opening scene within the game CanineCrew.

FIG. 17 is a screen shot of three matched pairs of rhyming words withinthe game Canine Crew.

FIG. 18 is a screen shot illustrating a brickload of words beingdropped, to begin a new trial within the game Canine Crew.

FIG. 19 is a screen shot illustrating six matched pairs of rhyming wordswithin the game Canine Crew.

FIG. 20 is a screen shot illustrating 10 matched pairs of antonymswithin the game Canine Crew.

FIG. 21 is a screen shot illustrating three matched pairs of homophoneswithin the game Canine Crew.

FIG. 22 is a screen shot illustrating a reward animation within the gameCanine Crew.

FIGS. 23 a-c provide a flow chart illustrating advancement with the gameCanine Crew.

FIG. 24 is a screen shot of an opening scene in the game Chicken Dog.

FIG. 25 is a screen shot of a trial within the game Chicken Dogrequiring a student to complete the word “follo_ing” by selecting theconsonant “w”.

FIG. 26 is a screen shot of a trial within the game Chicken Dogrequiring a student to complete the word “me_bers” with the letter “m”.

FIG. 27 is a screen shot illustrating correct completion of the word“members” within the game Chicken Dog.

FIG. 28 is a flow chart illustrating game flow within the game ChickenDog.

FIG. 29 is a screen shot of a trial within the game Chicken Dogrequiring a student to complete the word “icycle” with the blend “tr”.

FIG. 30 is a screen shot illustrating correct completion of the word“tricycle” within the game Chicken Dog.

FIG. 31 is a flow chart illustrating progress advancement within thegame Chicken Dog.

FIG. 32 is an initial screen shot for the game Twisted Pictures.

FIG. 33 is a first training screen within the game Twisted Pictures.

FIG. 34 is a second training screen within the game Twisted Pictures.

FIG. 35 is a third training screen within the game Twisted Pictures.

FIG. 36 is a flow chart illustrating the training methodology within thegame Twisted Pictures.

FIG. 37 is a flow chart illustrating the advancement methodology withinthe game Twisted Pictures.

FIG. 38 is an initial screen shot for the game Book Monkeys.

FIG. 39 is a screen shot showing a paragraph presented within the gameBook Monkeys.

FIG. 40 is a screen shot showing a first question presented within thegame Book Monkeys.

FIG. 41 is a screen shot showing a question that is being repeated afteran incorrect response, within the game Book Monkeys.

FIGS. 42 a-c provide a flow chart illustrating the training andadvancement methodology within the game Book Monkeys.

FIG. 43 is an initial screen shot within the game Hog Hat Zone.

FIG. 44 is a screen shot illustrating a first trial within the game HogHat Zone.

FIG. 45 is a screen shot illustrating a second trial within the game HogHat Zone.

FIG. 46 is a screen shot illustrating a first trial within a second unitwithin the game Hog Hat Zone.

FIGS. 47 a-b are a flow chart illustrating the training and advancementmethodology within the game Hog Hat Zone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is embodied in a computer program entitled FastForWord Reading developed by Scientific Learning Corporation. Acomprehensive discussion of this program may be found in a textdeveloped by Scientific Learning Corporation entitled “Fast ForWordReading: Why It Works”, and on its web site atwww.scientificlearning.com related to Fast ForWord Reading, both ofwhich are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

Fast ForWord Reading includes six exercises that train skills crucial toproficient reading. The exercises are: 1) Scrap Cat; 2) Canine Crew; 3)Chicken Dog; 4) Twisted Pictures; 5) Book Monkeys; and 6) Hog Hat Zone.Although each of these games incorporates aspects of the other gameswith respect to certain language skills, and thereby affectscross-training of language skills, they are also designed to aid indeveloping specific skills. A detailed description of each of thesegames now follows.

Referring to FIG. 1, a computer system 100 is shown for executing acomputer program according to the present invention. The computer system100 contains a computer 102, having a CPU, memory, hard disk and CD ROMdrive (not shown), attached to a monitor 104. The monitor 104 providesvisual prompting and feedback to the subject during execution of thecomputer program. Attached to the computer 102 are a keyboard 105,speakers 106, a mouse 108, and headphones 110. The speakers 106 and theheadphones 110 provide auditory prompting and feedback to the subjectduring execution of the computer program. The mouse 108 allows thesubject to navigate through the computer program according to thepresent invention, and to select particular responses after visual orauditory prompting by the computer program. The keyboard 105 allows aninstructor to enter alpha numeric information about the subject into thecomputer 102. Although a number of different computer platforms areapplicable to the present invention, embodiments of the presentinvention execute on either IBM compatible computers or Macintoshcomputers.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a login screen 200 is shown allowing a user toenter into the Fast ForWord Reading program. A login such as this isimportant for several reasons. First, it insures that only licensedstudents obtain the training provided by the Reading games. Second, itallows the software to act as a client, in a client-server architecture,specifically to allow the client to communicate game progress for eachstudent back to the server. This provides an important progressreporting function that is desirable to the student. In addition, itprovides significant heuristic information relating to each trial, andthe success of the training methodology of each game back to thedeveloper, so that further advancements can be made.

Once the student enters their username and password, they are taken tothe main program selection screen 300 of FIG. 3 to which attention isnow directed. Screen 300 shows six games that are to be played withinFast ForWord Reading: 1) Scrap Cat; 2) Canine Crew; 3) Chicken Dog; 4)Twisted Pictures; 5) Book Monkeys; and 6) Hog Hat Zone. The studentbegins training in one of the games by selecting the name of the game onthe screen 300. One skilled in the art will appreciate that analternative methodology would allow a trainer, or a supervisor, toparticularly specify the games to be played, and the order in which theyare to be played. By providing multiple games, each of which train ondifferent aspects important in language learning and comprehension, astudent will be cross trained in a number of areas important in becomingan efficient reader.

With this in mind, an overview of Decoding will now be provided, alongwith a detailed description of the games Scrap Cat and Canine Crew. Thiswill be followed with an overview of Spelling and a detailed descriptionof the game Chicken Dog. Sentence Comprehension will then be discussed,along with the game Twisted Pictures. Finally, Paragraph Comprehensionwill be discussed along with a detailed description of the games BookMonkeys and Hog Hat Zone.

Decoding

Decoding is the ability to decipher printed words by recovering thespoken word that a printed word represents. More specifically, decodinga word involves realizing that a printed word reproduces the spoken wordas a written sequence of phonemes, recognizing the individual phonemesthat the printed word represents, and then blending those phonemes toform the sound of the word. Decoding involves many skills, including:Conceptual relationships; semantics; syntax; phonological properties;and morphological properties.

Conceptual relationships—A student's ability to figure out and remembernew words depends on that student's pre-existing knowledge of otherwords and concepts. Understanding the conceptual relationships betweenwords helps the student associate a new word to a known concept, whichstrengthens the student's understanding and ability to remember not onlythe new word, but the previously known word as well. Moreover, as thestudent encounters more and more related words, the student'sunderstanding of those words and the concepts behind them becomes moreand more flexible; the student's understanding of the concept broadensto include many different aspects of that concept. This broaderunderstanding also helps the student become aware of and understandrelevant differences among the words and the concepts they represent.For instance, a student who knows the word “house” and then encounters“mansion” can then link the concepts behind these two words; they aresynonymous in that both are dwellings. The student will also start tonotice the differences between the two—size, for one—and narrow his orher understanding of what a house is: a dwelling that isn't enormous.When that student later comes across “cottage” for the first time, thatstudent can cluster it with “house” and “mansion.” The student will thenhave an even better concept of what a house is: a medium sized dwelling;not too big, not too small.

Semantics—The larger a student's vocabulary, the better that student'sability to understand and remember the meanings of new words. Vocabularyinstruction helps increase the student's vocabulary by directly teachingnew words as well as by enhancing that student's ability to learn newwords. In addition, explicit vocabulary instruction increases readingcomprehension not only of the words directly taught but also of words ingeneral.

Syntax—To understand a sentence, the student must understand therelationships among the words. When students read a sentence, they holdthe words and their meanings in memory until the grammatical function ofthe words—the syntax of the sentence—becomes clear. After the semanticand syntactic meanings of the sentence have been decoded, the studentretains the general meaning of the sentence and quickly loses memory ofthe actual words and structure. Although it is not absolutely necessaryfor the student to know syntactic labels in order to understand therelationships among words, research shows that explicit training ingrammar labels and rules helps students understand sentences better—andremember them better, as well.

Phonological Properties—Using the phonological properties of a word todecipher its meaning, is a decoding method used by all readers at allages. Phonemic awareness is one of the first steps toward using thismethod; the student must be able to appreciate the fact that words aremade up of the units of sounds referred to as phonemes before thatstudent can recognize the letters that symbolize those sounds—and thengo on to build letter-sound correspondence skills. Successful decodingdepends on the development of phonemic awareness.

In addition to being, aware of the phonemes themselves, readers mustappreciate that the pronunciation of a letter depends on the lettersthat surround it. For example, e is pronounced very differently in bed,bead, and bite. Also consider digraphs, which are combinations of twoletters, such as sh and ch; the digraphs and their individual lettershave very different pronunciations (for example, the s in sip and ship).Pronunciation of a letter sometimes depends on the root word, prefix, orsuffix: autumn contains a silent n, but the addition of the suffix -alcauses the n in the resulting word, autumnal, to be pronounced.Different word families have different pronunciations (hoot and soonhave a different vowel sound than look and brook). Different words canbe spelled the same way (for instance, the two pronunciations of wordslike read and primer); words that sound the same can also be spelleddifferently, such as there and their. Many of these seemingirregularities are actually rule-governed, but the reader has todiscover or be taught the rules and learn to categorize wordsaccordingly.

Once the reader successfully links letters and letter sequences to theirunderlying phonological structures, word recognition becomes largelyautomatic and the student can comprehend familiar words withoutconsciously analyzing their phonological properties. However, even veryskilled readers will use phonological properties to decode a word theyhave never seen before. For example, how could you read the nonsenseword atishnet if you didn't use the phonological properties of the word?

Morphological Properties—Understanding morphemes helps the student breakan unfamiliar word into comprehensible pieces. A student who understandswhat hope means and what—ful means will be able to put two and twotogether when first confronted with the word hopeful. Morphemes can alsohelp the student decide whether a word is verb, adjective, or noun andthus provide another type of clue to the word's meaning and function inthe sentence.

In addition, the student's vocabulary in 3^(rd) grade and beyond isexpanded primarily through adding morphemes to already known root words.As the student progresses, he or she relies more and more on analyzingmorphological components in order to decode new words.

The first game in Fast Forward Reading is called Scrap Cat. Scrap Catutilizes a combination of elements that lead to efficient learning,including: frequency, intensity, cross-training, adaptivity, andmotivation. Cross training, adaptivity and motivation are directlyincorporated into the game Scrap Cat. Frequency and intensity are afunction of the training schedule.

More specifically, Scrap Cat focuses on helping the student improvedecoding, vocabulary, and word recognition skills by training in:Conceptual relationships; Semantics; Syntax; Phonological properties;and morphological properties. For example, Scrap Cat trains inconceptual relationships by having the student sort several words into afew different categories, thereby increasing his/her understanding ofhow words relate to one another. In addition, Scrap Cat trains thestudent in semantics by having the student categorize words according totheir meaning. Scrap Cat further trains the student in syntax by havingthe student categorize words according to the grammatical function ofthe word. Scrap Cat also trains the student's phonological properties byhaving the student categorize words according to the attributes of thedifferent sounds within a word. Scrap Cat further trains the student'smorphological properties by having the student categorize wordsaccording to morphemes.

Scrap Cat trains the student as above by having him/her progress throughfour category types: Semantic; Syntactic; phonological; andmorphological. A complete listing of the categories are provided inAppendix A, attached hereto. More specifically, the Semantic categoriesrequire the student to sort words according to definition (such asanimals and states). The Syntactic categories require the student tosort words into grammatical groups (such as nouns and verbs). ThePhonological categories require the student to sort words according tovowel sounds, consonant sounds, and syllables (such as “has oneconsonant sound” and “has the same vowel sound as ate”). TheMorphological categories require the student to sort words by morpheme(such as “has a suffix that means full of” and “is a plural”).

Adaptivity—Scrap Cat adapts to the student's incoming skill level and,as the student continues to train, tracks the number of correct andincorrect answers and adjusts the training level when the student isready to advance or needs to transition to different training material.This flexible approach ensures that the student is challenged but notfrustrated, which in turn ensures that the student continues to payattention to and enjoys training, as well as continues to learn andprogress in the exercise.

Advancement in Scrap Cat is made by providing progressively largernumbers of words in progressively more categories. That is, whenstarting to train on a new category type, such as semantics, Scrap Catpresents two different categories (such as animals and thing to wear)from the first category group. The student then sorts six differentwords (such as salamander and mitten) into these categories. After allsix words have been sorted, Scrap Cat evaluates that group of trials. Ifthe student has sorted at least 90 percent of the words correctly, ScrapCat presents more categories and more words to sort until the student issorting 20 words into 4 different categories. After the student hascompleted 90 percent of each group of trials correctly for the currentcategory group, Scrap Cat advances to the next category group. When thestudent has completed Scrap Cat, that student will have been exposed to412 words and will have correctly categorized at least 370 words.

Table 1 below illustrates the category types in progression order. TABLE1 Semantic Syntactic Phonological Morphological (1) 2 × 3 (1) 2 × 3 (1)2 × 3 (1) 2 × 3 (1) 3 × 3 (1) 3 × 3 (1) 3 × 3 (1) 3 × 3 (1) 3 × 4 (1) 3× 4 (1) 3 × 4 (1) 3 × 4 (1) 4 × 4 (1) 4 × 4 (1) 4 × 4 (1) 4 × 4 (5) 4 ×5 (5) 4 × 5 (5) 4 × 5 (5) 4 × 5

Plateau-Based Transitions—Scrap Cat allows a student who is notprogressing in one area to continue to advance in other areas. Toaccomplish this goal, Scrap Cat uses plateau-based transitions to allowthe student to train on different material when the student becomesstuck in one category group or category type and is not able to progressimmediately. If a student repeats a group of trials 3 times but does notachieve 90 percent correct, Scrap Cat presents a new category group fromthe same category type. For instance, if the student is training onphonology and is having trouble sorting words in the second categorygroup (which includes categories such as “words that have the same vowelsound as mop”), Scrap Cat switches to presenting words from the thirdcategory group (which includes categories such as “words that have threeconsonants”). If the student repeats this new group of trials 3 timeswithout sorting 90 percent of the words correctly, Scrap Cat transitionsto the next category: morphology. Before the student completes theexercise—and after the student completes as much of the material inScrap Cat as possible—Scrap Cat returns the student to the group (orgroups) of trials that the student did not complete with 90 percentaccuracy. Scrap Cat requires the student to train on this group (orgroups) of trials until s/he achieves 90 percent accuracy. A completeflow chart illustrating this adaptivity in training is provided below inFIG. 15.

With the above background on Scrap Cat, the reader's attention is nowdirected to FIG. 4 which provides a screen shot 400 illustrating aninitial scene for the game. The setting for the game is a junkyard. Whenthe game begins, the student is presented with an empty garbage bin 402,a number of recycling containers 404, a recycling chute 406, and acharacter 408 entitled “Scrap Cat”. Scrap Cat 408 is standing on abarrel 410 that contains a counter 412. In the upper right hand cornerof the scene 400 is a time indicator 414 that provides the student witha relative indication of the time remaining for training.

On Scrap Cat's 408 shirt is a paw 416. The student begins training byplacing a cursor (moved by a computing input device such as a mouse)over the paw 416 and selecting the paw 416 (by clicking the mouse, forexample). When the student has indicated selection of the paw 416, abottle or can rolls down the recycling chute 406 and displays a word.The student must figure out which category the word fits into, and thenselect (by mouse click, for example) that category's recycling container404.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a screen shot 500 is shown, illustrating afirst trial (presented after the student selected the paw 416). Likeelements have like references, the hundreds digit being replaced by a“5”. The garbage bin 502 is first filled with garbage 520, and then afirst word 522 is presented on a rolling can or bottle at the bottom ofthe recycling chute 506. At first, the student is provided with just twocategories into which the word 522 must be sorted. In this example, theword 522 fawn must be sorted into one of the categories: “things towear” 524; or “Animals” 526. For the first trial, the correct category(e.g., Animals) is highlighted to indicate to the student that they areto select Animals. Upon successful selection of the category Animals, acrusher 540 crushes the word fawn 522 and sorts it into the recyclingbin 504 associated with Animals.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a screen shot 600 is provided illustratingpresentation of a second word, skirt 622. This word is automaticallypresented after completion of the first trial. The student mustcorrectly select the category associated with the recycling containers604. If the student doesn't understand a word, the student can look upthe definition by clicking the ? button 518 at the bottom of therecycling chute 506 (see FIG. 5). Scrap Cat 608 then presents the wordand the number of syllables along with a short definition, as shown inbox 628. If the student doesn't understand a category in one of therecycling containers 404, the student can click a speaker 630 next toeach recycling container 604 to hear the category name read aloud.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a screen shot 700 is shown presenting a word“turkey” 722 for categorization. The student must correctly categorizethe word 722 into one of two categories “things to wear” 724 or“Animals” 726. Upon correct selection of the category “Animals” 726, thecategory is highlighted to indicate correct selection, and the sound ofa bell (e.g., “ding”) is played to indicate correct selection. If thestudent makes an incorrect selection, a “thunk” is played, and thecorrect category is highlighted.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a screen shot 800 is shown illustrating ananimation occurring after correct categorization of a word. A crusher840 drops down and crushes the word, and then shoots the crushed word822 into the recycling bin 804 associated with the correct category 826.Alternatively, if the student selects an incorrect category for the word822, after the “thunk” is played, the word simply drops off therecycling chute 806.

After several trials, the score counter 812 advances to indicate correctcategorizations, and the student is required to select the paw 816 formore trials. The number of trials for each category level was providedabove in Table 1.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a screen shot 900 is shown illustrating a word916 that must be categorized into one of three categories 924, 926, or932. In this screen shot, the student incorrectly selected the category“Animals” 932 to correspond to the word “crown” 916 (indicated by thehighlighted box 932). A “thunk” is played, and the correct category“things to wear” 926 is subsequently highlighted.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a screen shot 1000 is shown illustrating aword “hammer” 1016 that must be categorized into one of four categories1024, 1026, 1032, or 1034. The student has progressed to playing in fourcategories by correct categorization as described above with referenceto Table 1.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a screen shot 1100 is shown illustrating areward animation, in this case a mouse 1136 hopping across the screen ina jumping boot 1138. Reward animations similar to this are presented atregular intervals to entertain the student and keep them interested incontinued training.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a screen shot 1200 is shown illustrating atrial within one of the morphological categories. In this trial, thestudent is presented with a word “ordered” 1216 and is required to placethe word into one of the four categories 1224, 1226, 1232, or 1234. Inthis instance, the student correctly selects the category 1232 “Has asuffix that means “happened in the past” as indicated by the highlight.

Referring now to FIG. 13, a screen shot 1300 is shown illustrating thatafter correct selection of the category 1332 for the word “ordered”1316, before the word is crushed by the crusher 13.24, the wordparticularly highlights the suffix “ed” for the correct categorization.One skilled in the art will appreciate that other suffixes/prefixes asapplicable are highlighted before being disposed of in the properrecycle bin.

Referring now to FIG. 14, a flow chart 1400 is provided particularlyillustrating the progress flow for the game Scrap Cat. When reference isrequired to the screen image for the game, reference will be made backto elements in FIG. 4. The game starts at block 1402 and proceeds toblock 1404.

At block 1404 there is no trash in the bin 402 and no categories in therecycle bins 404. Flow proceeds to block 1408. If the student selects“Exit”, or if a predefined time period for game play expires, flowproceeds to block 1406 where the game Scrap Cat ends, taking the studentback to the main program screen as described above.

At block 1408, the next trial begins. The trial begins with the programselecting a category type (e.g., Semantic, Syntactic, Phonological,Morphological), two or more categories (e.g., Animals, Things to Wear),and a word from one of the selected categories (e.g., fawn) to bepresented to the student. Flow then proceeds to block 1410.

At block 1410, the selected (two, three, or four) categories appear onthe recycle bins 404 (in random placement). Flow then proceeds to block1412.

At block 1412, a container rolls out of the garbage bin 402, down thechute 406, and the selected word appears on the container. At thispoint, the system waits for the student to indicate which of thecategories the selected word should be placed in. If the student selectsone of the provided categories (on the bins 404), flow proceeds todecision block 1414. If the student requires assistance with theselected word, s/he may click on the “?” box below the chute 406. Ifs/he does, then flow proceeds to block 1416.

At block 1416, a definition of the selected word appears below the chute406, as illustrated in FIG. 6. At this point, the student may understandthe word enough to attempt a categorization, and if s/he selects one ofthe provided categories, flow proceeds to decision block 1414.Alternatively, the student may wish to hear the selected word. If so,the student can click on the horn 628, in which case flow proceeds toblock 1418.

At block 1418, the selected word is aurally presented by the computingsystem so that the student can hear the word that is to be categorized.Flow then returns back to block 1416.

Flow reaches decision block 1414 when one of the categories is clicked.A determination is made as to whether the correct category for the wordhas been selected. If so, flow proceeds to block 1420. If an incorrectcategorization is made, flow proceeds to block 1426.

At block 1420, a “ding” is played, indicating to the student that acorrect categorization has been made. In addition, the selected categoryis highlighted to further emphasize the correct selection. Flow thenproceeds to blocks 1422/1424.

At blocks 1422/1424, points are added to the student's score. Morespecifically, if the student did not press the “?” box 518 to see adefinition of the word, the student's score is incremented by fourpoints. Alternatively, if the student did press the “?” box 518 to see adefinition of the word, the student's score is incremented by one point.In either case, flow proceeds to block 1428.

At block 1428, the result of the instant trial is recorded. That is, theprogram records the categories being tested, the number of categoriesbeing tested, the word tested, whether the student required the word tobe defined/played, and whether the student correctly or incorrectlycategorized the word. Flow then proceeds to block 1430.

Flow to block 1426 indicates that the student incorrectly categorizedthe word. At this point, a “thunk” is played indicating to the studentthat s/he incorrectly categorized the word. In addition, the correctcategory is highlighted to emphasize to the student the correctcategorization. Flow then proceeds to block 1428 where the result of thetrial is recorded.

At block 1430, another trial is selected according to the advancementstrategy further described with respect to FIG. 15 below.

Referring now to FIG. 15, a flow chart 1500 is provided to particularlyillustrate how trials are selected, and how a student advances play forthe game Scrap Cat. Flow begins at block 1502 and proceeds to block1504. As mentioned above, the student will ultimately progress throughthe four category types: Semantic; Syntactic; Phonological; andMorphological. More specifically, a student will advance throughprogressively larger numbers of words in progressively more categories(as shown in Table 1 above).

At block 1504, a category type is selected. If no testing has takenplace, the first category type selected is Semantic. Flow then proceedsto decision block 1508.

At decision block 1508 a determination is made as to whether there areany groups are available within the selected category type. If not, flowproceeds back to block 1504 where another category type is selected(e.g., syntactic). If groups are available within the selected categorytype, flow proceeds to block 1506.

At block 1506, a category group is selected. Flow proceeds to block1510.

At block 1510, a category is selected, then words for the selectedcategory is selected. Flow then proceeds to block 1512.

At block 1512, the trial is presented. Flow then proceeds to decisionblock 1514.

At decision block 1514, a determination is made as to whether there areany more words to present for the selected category. If there are, flowproceeds back to block 1512 where the additional words are presented.Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 1518.

At decision block 1518, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has correctly categorized at least 90% of the trials within theselected groups. If ten or less words have been tested, the student isallowed to miss just one of the trials. If less than six words have beentested (for two categories), or if the student has correctly respondedto 90% of the trials within a selected category group, flow proceeds todecision block 1522. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 1520.

At decision block 1522, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has been tested in 20 words in all four categories of a categorytype. If so, flow proceeds back to decision block 1508. If not, flowproceeds back to block 1510 where categories/words are selected.

At decision block 1520, a determination is made as to whether thepresent group has been repeated 3 times. If so, the flow proceeds backto decision block 1508. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 1516.

The student reaches decision block 1520 when they have not achieved 90percent correct response within a given selection of category groupswithin a selected category type. A test is made to determine whether thestudent has three times repeated the present group selection, within theselected category type. If not, flow proceeds to block 1516 wheretesting in the present group continues. However, if the student hasrepeated the present group three times, the student is considered tohave “plateaued”. That is, the student has been unable to achieve 90%correct response to trials within a selected group within a selectedcategory type. In this instance, the category group selection within thepresent category type is changed. Flow then proceeds to block 1508 forcontinued testing within alternative category groups within the presentcategory type.

At block 1516, the words and categories are repeated for the presentgroup. Flow proceeds to block 1512. The above discussion has describedthe methodology for the game Scrap Cat according to the presentinvention.

Attention is now directed to FIG. 16 where discussion begins for thegame Canine Crew. Canine Crew trains students in decoding, vocabulary,and automatic word recognition. Canine Crew further improves studentssemantic and phonological skills through training students in rhymes,synonyms, antonyms, and homophones. More specifically, Canine Crewpresents word pairs many times, which allows the student to not onlycement knowledge of those words' meanings and sounds, but also helps thestudent develop automatic word recognition and understanding ofconceptual relationships.

An animated scene 1600 is presented of a street whose traffic has beenstopped by a hairy street worker 1602 that is repairing a pothole 1604.Students who play the game help the street worker 1602 to fill thepothole 1604 by matching similar words and filling the pothole with wordbricks. Also shown in the scene 1600 is a score counter 1606 foraccumulating a student's score and a timer 1608 indicating a relativeamount of time remaining for game play

Referring now to FIG. 17i a scene 1700 is shown for the game CanineCrew. When the student clicks on the yellow paw 1710, a steam shovel(not shown) drops a brickload of words 1712 above the pothole 1704. Thestudent must pair the words according to the category that is beingtrained. In one embodiment, the first category being trained is rhyme.Initially, the student is provided with a brickload 1712 of seven wordsincluding three matching pairs, and one foil (the foil is provided toincrease the difficulty of the task). When training in this category,the student clicks a first word, and then clicks a second word thatrhymes with the first word. This is particularly illustrated in FIG. 17.That is, the student has first clicked the word “deal” 1714. The onlyword shown that rhymes with “deal” is the word “peel” 1716. When thestudent places a selection cursor (not shown) over the word “peel” 1716,the word is highlighted. When the student selects the word “peel” 1716,a “ding” is played by the computing device indicating to the studentthat s/he has correctly selected a rhyme for the word “deal”. At thispoint, both words “deal” 1714 and “peel” 1716 fall into the pothole1704, and are thus removed from the set of brickwords 1712. The studentcontinues pairing the remaining words until the last pair has beenmatched, and the pothole 1704 is filled.

If the student selects a first word, and then incorrectly pairs it witha second word, the student is aurally presented with a “thunk”indicating an incorrect selection, and the first word is“un-highlighted”, thereby allowing the student to re-select a first wordfor pairing. As the student progresses in his/her training, the numberof words provided in the brickword load 1712 increases, as does thecomplexity of the vocabulary. In addition, as the student correctlyprogresses in pairing words, s/he is moved through four semantic andphonological categories, one by one as follows: 1) Rhymes; 2) Synonyms;3) Antonyms; and 4) Homophones.

Referring now to FIG. 18, a screen shot 1800 is shown illustrating asteam shovel 1820 dropping another brickload of words 1812 for the nexttrial. In one embodiment, the brickload 1812 is dropped after thestudent completes a previous trial, and selects the yellow paw 1810.

Referring now to FIG. 19, a screen shot 1900 is provided of anotherrhyming trial. In this instance, one skilled in the art will appreciatethat the number of bricks 1912 that are presented in the trial hasincreased over the trial illustrated in FIG. 1700 (as has the size ofthe pothole 1904!) As in FIG. 1700, the student must pair the rhymingwords to fill the pothole 1904.

Referring now to FIG. 20, a screen shot 2000 is shown illustrating alarge number of brick words 2012 that must be paired. In this instancehowever, the words that must be paired are not rhymes of each other.Rather, they are antonyms (i.e., words that mean the opposite of eachother).

Referring now to FIG. 21, a screen shot 2100 is shown illustrating anumber of brick words 2112 that must be paired. In this instancehowever, the words that must be paired are not antonyms of each other.Rather, they are homophones (i.e., words that sound alike though spelleddifferently).

Referring now to FIG. 22, a screen shot 2200 is shown illustrating areward animation that is played for the student. A number of differentreward animations are provided to the student at various times duringtraining to entertain and hold the attention of the student.

With the above discussion of the screen shots in mind for Canine Crew,attention is now directed at FIG. 23 where a flow chart 2300 is providedparticularly illustrating how a student is trained in the game CanineCrew, as well as how the student advances through the four semantic andphonological categories. To better understand the terminology related toflow chart 2300, Table II is provided below to provide definitionalassistance. TABLE II Cate- A category refers to a type of match for agroup of matching gory: pairs including: rhymes, synonyms, antonyms, orhomophones. Level: A level refers to the difficulty level of a group ofmatches. There are up to four levels per category. As the levelincreases so does the grade level of the vocabulary. Set: A set is agroup of matching pairs in a certain category at a certain level.Generally the set consists of 30 matching pairs. Unit: A unit is thesmallest group of trials to be evaluated for advancement. In Canine Crewthere are four unit sizes: 6, 9, 18 and 30 matches. Screen: A screenrefers to the group of matches presented on screen after the yellow pawis clicked. There are 3 screens of 3 matches each in a unit of 9matches.

A complete listing of word pairs, for each level is provided in AppendixB attached hereto. Table III below provides an overview of leveladvancement for each of the categories trained on by Canine Crew. Ingeneral, a student must complete all units in a category at all levelsbefore moving on to a new category. The Rhyme category progresses fromlevel 0 through 3. Each of the other categories (Synonyms, Antonyms, andHomophones) progress from level 1 through 3. TABLE III # of Screens,Unit Grade Words per Matches per (Matches Words per Level level ScreenScreen Evaluated) Unit 0 2 (2) 3 6 12 6 on screen 1, 7 on screen 2 1 2(3)  7 3 9 18 (3) 13 6 18 36 (3) 21 10 30 60 2 3 (3)  7 3 9 18 (3) 13 618 36 (3) 21 10 30 60 3 4 (3)  7 3 9 18 (3) 13 6 18 36 (3) 21 10 30 60Total 177

Flow begins at block 2302 and proceeds to block 2304.

At block 2304 an initial training sequence is begun. The student beginstraining in Rhymes at Level 0. S/he will train by pairing 6 matches fromthree different word families. These matches are presented in twoscreens of 3 matches each (each screen has seven words). Level 0 isconsidered “training”. This level differs from the others in that it hasonly one unit, and that unit has only two screens. Also, if the trainingis failed 3 times then the user progresses to the next unit and thetraining unit is not placed at the end of the list for further play. So,after Level 0 is set, flow proceeds to block 2306.

At block 2306, three word pairs (with seven words) are presented bydisplaying them as a brickload to the student (as shown in FIG. 17). Asmentioned above, the student selects a first word, which is highlighted,and then selects a second word that rhymes with the first word. If thestudent correctly matches a pair of words, a “ding” is played, and thewords are removed from the screen and dropped into the pothole. If thestudent incorrectly matches a pair of words, the words areun-highlighted, and the student continues selecting. When three pairs ofwords have been matched, and the brickload has been moved to thepothole, flow proceeds to decision block 2308.

At decision block 2308 a determination is made as to whether the studenthas completed two screens of trials. If not, flow proceeds to block2310. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 2312.

At block 2310, a new word set is selected from Level 0, and flowproceeds to block 2306 where the new words are presented to the student.

At decision block 2312, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has obtained a 90% correct selection across the two trials. Ifnot, flow proceeds to decision block 2314. Otherwise, flow proceeds toblock 2316. For example, a unit is successfully completed if:

-   -   numberOfPairsInUnit/numberOffrialsTakenToCompleteUnit>=90%

Here are the maximum number of trials the user can take to pass eachunit

-   -   Unit 1 (9 pairs): 10 trials (9/10=90%)    -   Unit 2 (18 pairs): 20 trials (18/20=90%)    -   Unit 3 (30 pairs): 30 trials (30/33=91%)

Another way to look at it is:

-   -   Unit 1: User can pass with 1 incorrect trial    -   Unit 2: User can pass with 2 incorrect trials    -   Unit 3: User can pass with 3 incorrect trials

At decision block 2314, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has trained at level 0 three times. If not, the student remainsat level 0, and repeats the two screen trial again with flow proceedingback to block 2310. If the student has trained at level 0 three times,but has not accomplished a 90% success rate, flow still proceeds toblock 2316.

At block 2316, the student advances to level 1 for the category Rhymes.Flow then proceeds to block 2318.

At block 2318, the Category is set to Rhyme, the Level is set to 1, andthe Unit is set to 1 so that the first screen for Level 1 can bepresented. Flow then proceeds to block 2320.

At block 2320 a screen is presented as a trial. The number of wordspresented is initially seven, at level 1 within the category Rhyme.However, the number of words presented, the level presented, and thecategory presented will vary as the student advances. For each screenthat is presented, when the student has removed all of the words fromthe screen by matching pairs, flow proceeds to decision block 2322.

At decision block 2322, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has completed three screens at the current unit. For example,initially the unit is set to one, meaning that for each screen, sevenwords are presented. Alternatively, if the student is at level 2,thirteen words at presented for each screen. This is shown above inTable III. If the student has not completed three screens at the currentunit number, flow proceeds to block 2324. Otherwise, flow proceeds todecision block 2326.

At block 2324, the screen number is incremented, alternate word pairsfrom the current level are selected, and flow proceeds to block 2320where a new screen is presented for training.

At decision block 2326, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has obtained a 90% correct score for matching pairs of words onthe three screens, at the present training level, for the presentcategory. If not, flow proceeds to decision block 2328. Otherwise, flowproceeds to decision block 2330.

At decision block 2328, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has trained at the present level, in the present category, threetimes. If not, then the screen number for the present level is reset toone, and the words for the present level are reordered and presentedagain at block 2320. However, if the student has trained three times atthe present unit number, at the present level, in the present category(and has not achieved a 90% success rate), flow proceeds to block 2331.

At block 2331, the unit # is advanced, and the failed unit is moved tothe end of the land. That is, the present level is left “open” (meaningthat ultimately the student will have to come back and complete thepresent unit number, at the present level before his/her training ends)and flow proceeds to block 2320. That is, a student is allowed threeopportunities to achieve a 90% correct response before advancing to thenext unit number, or if at unit 3, to the next level. If s/he issuccessful, then the unit/level is closed (i.e., not to be repeatedagain), and the student advances. If s/he is not successful, then theunit/level remains open, and the student advances.

At decision block 2330, a determination is made as to whether thestudent is currently in unit 3 (21 words) at the present level, in thepresent category. If not, flow proceeds to block 2332. Otherwise, flowproceeds to decision block 2334.

At block 2332, the unit number for the present level is incremented. Forexample, if the present unit number is 1 (7 words), then the unit numberwill be incremented to 2 (13 words). If the present unit number is 2 (13words), the unit number will be incremented to 3 (21 words). Flow thenproceeds back to block 2320 where the student will be presented with ascreen at the new unit number, at the present level, in the presentcategory.

At decision block 2334, a determination is made as to whether thestudent is currently at level 3 for the present category. If not, flowproceeds to block 2336. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 2338.

At block 2336, the current training level is incremented, and the unitnumber is set to 1. For example, if the present training level is 2, andthe present unit number is 3, the training level will be set to 3, andthe unit number will be set to 1. Flow then proceeds to block 2320 wherenew words, at the new level are presented.

At decision block 2338, a determination is made as to whether allcategories have been completed. If not, flow proceeds to block 2340.Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 2342.

At block 2340, the category number is incremented, and the level andunit numbers are reset to 1. For example, if the present category is 2(Synonyms), then the category is incremented to 3 (Antonyms), and thelevel and unit numbers are reset to 1. Flow then proceeds back to block2320 where training begins in the new category.

At decision block 2342, a determination is made as to whether any unitsremain open, at any level, for any category. If not, then the studenthas achieved a 90% success for all units, at all levels, for allcategories. Training is therefore completed, with flow proceeding toblock 2344. Otherwise, one or more units, at one or more levels, for oneor more categories remain open. Flow thus proceeds to block 2346.

At block 2346, if the student arrives at this point, it is because s/he“plateaued” in a unit, being unable to achieve 90% correct after threetries at that level. As mentioned above with respect to decision block2328, if the student is unable to obtain 90% correct after three trialsin a unit, the student is advanced, but the unit remains open. In block2346, all open units are repeated until the student obtains 90% correct.When s/he does, flow proceeds to block 2344 where training in CanineCrew ends.

The first two games in Fast ForWord Reading that have been describedabove have provided training, primarily utilizing Decoding exercises. InScrap Cat, the student was trained to appreciate various properties ofwords including: Semantic, Syntax, Phonological, and Morphological. InCanine Crew, the student builds on their basic letter-soundcorrespondence skills and uses those to deal with more complexrelationships between words: Rhymes, Synonyms, Antonyms, and Homophones.

The next game in the Fast ForWord Reading program is called Chicken Dog.This games builds on the other two games, but adds training in spellingand letter sound correspondence. Before Chicken Dog is discussed indetail, an overview of Spelling is considered applicable.

Chicken Dog trains a student in spelling by having the student associatethe sound of a word with its spelling, and by having the studentcomplete the written spelling of a spoken word. More specifically,Chicken Dog develops 1^(st) through 4^(th) grade spelling skills bytraining the student to recognize: 1) every syllable has a vowel letter;2) many sounds are represented with letter combinations; 3) how we spella sound depends on its position in a word; 4) only certain letters aredoubled; and 5) meaningful word parts are often spelled consistently.

Chicken Dog Cross-Trains a student using a multiple-choice, closed taskformat to train:

Spelling—Words are presented that are missing a letter or lettercombination. Chicken Dog varies the location of the missing letter(s) bybeginning, middle, or end of the word. Chicken Dog also varies thelinguistic properties of the missing letter(s) by consonant, shortvowel, long vowel, or r-controlled vowel. Chicken Dog further varies theorthographic complexity of the missing letter(s) by a single letter,letter blend, digraph, diphthong, or special vowel spelling.

Sensitivity to letter-sound correspondence—The correct letter or lettercombination is chosen from a group of letters and letter combinationsthat include not only the correct choice but also incorrectchoices—foils—that are systematically selected to be either visually orphonetically similar to the correct choice.

Decoding Skills—To complete the spelling of a word, the student mustsuccessfully decode the part of the word that appears on the screen.Through practice in retrieving the appropriate letter-soundcorrespondences to complete the partially spelled word, the studentfurther hones skills necessary for successful decoding.

Referring now to FIG. 24, a screen shot 2400 is shown for the gameChicken Dog. The animated scene 2400 depicts a chicken character 2402working a hot dog stand 2404. On the left of the stand 2404 is a cashregister having a yellow paw 2406. As in the other games above, a trialbegins when a student clicks on the yellow paw 2406. On the right sideof the screen are 5 condiment containers 2408, each having a displaysquare 2410 onto which will be presented one or more letters. When atrial begins, Chicken Dog 2402 presents a hot dog 2412 on the stand2404, onto which will be placed a word that is missing letters. The sizeof the hot dog 2412 will vary depending on the size of the wordpresented. As in the previous two games, a score counter 2414 isprovided to indicate to the student a score, reflecting theirperformance, and a timer 2416 indicating a relative time remaining forgame play.

Referring now to FIG. 25, a screen shot 2500 is presented subsequent tothe student selecting the yellow paw 2506. Like elements have likereferences, the hundreds digits being replaced with a 25. After the paw2506 is selected, Chicken Dog 2502 presents a hot dog 2512 with a word2520 on it. When the word 2520 is presented, it is also played aurallyby the computing device on which the program is run so that the studentbeing trained hears the entire word, in addition to seeing it. The wordis missing a letter or letters which must be filled in by the student.

When the word 2520 is presented, five letters, or letter combinations,are inserted into the condiment containers 2508. In this scene, the word2520 that is played is “following”, and the word presented is“follo_ing”. The student must select one of the five letters 2522 as aletter to complete the word 2520. For each trial, one correct answer andfour incorrect (foil) answers are provided.

The first trial that is played by the student highlights the correctletter, in this case “w”, to complete the word “follo_ing”. When thestudent selects the correct letter 2522, a “ding” is played indicating acorrect selection, all the letters disappear from the condimentcontainers 2508, and the letter appears in the word 2520 as will befurther illustrated below. If the student selects one of the foilletters, a “thunk” is played indicating an incorrect selection, and thecorrect letter is placed into the word 2520 to illustrate to the studentthe correct selection. If at any time during a trial the student wishesto have the word played aurally, s/he can again select the yellow paw2506, and the word will be played.

Referring now to FIG. 26, a screen shot 2600 is shown illustrating aword 2620 “me_bers” that has been presented, visually and aurally to thestudent. The student indicates that the missing letter is “m” 2622 whichis highlighted when the cursor is on top of the letter. After selecting“m” 2622 to complete the spelling of the word “members”, the “m” dropsdown into the word 2620, as is shown in FIG. 27. Additionally, theprogram adds an entertaining animation (not shown) upon each correctselection wherein the condiment container associated with the correctletter is manipulated by Chicken Dog 2702 to squirt, pour, shake, etc.,some ingredient onto the hot dog 2712. Furthermore, similar to the othergames described above, after a number of trials, a reward animation (notshown) is played for the student to further enhance their enjoyment ofthe game.

Referring now to FIG. 28, a flow chart 2800 is shown that provides anoverview of the training steps for each trial in Chicken Dog. Flowbegins at block 2802 and proceeds to decision block 2804.

At decision block 2804, a determination is made as to whether the yellowpaw 2406 has been selected. If so, flow proceeds to block 2806.Otherwise, play remains at decision block 2804 until the student selectsthe paw 2406.

At block 2806, the correct trial to be presented is determined as isfurther illustrated below with respect to FIG. 31. Flow then proceeds toblock 2808.

At block 2808, the particular trial selected in block 2806 is presentedto the student. As described above, the word being tested is aurallypresented to the student, a portion of the word is visually presented tothe student, and the correct answer, along with a number of foils arepresented to the student. Flow then proceeds to decision block 2810.

At decision block 2810, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has selected an answer. If not, flow remains at decision block2810 until the student selects an answer. Otherwise, flow proceeds todecision block 2812. At decision block 2812, a determination is made asto whether the student correctly responded in the trial. If so, flowproceeds to block 2816. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 2814.

At block 2814, the incorrect response is indicated by playing a “thunk”,and then the correct completed word is presented. Flow then proceedsback to decision block 2804 awaiting instigation of another trial.

At block 2816, the correct response is indicated by playing a “ding”,and then the correct completed word is presented. Flow then proceedsback to decision block 2804 awaiting instigation of another trial.

Progress Advancement

Terms:

Category: The category refers to the type of letter or letters missing.The categories include three consonant categories (beginning, ending andmedial) and one vowel category. (see Appendix C for a completedescription of the Categories and words used)

Level: The level refers to the level of difficulty. Each category hasfrom 1 to 5 levels of difficulty.

Unit: A unit is always the smallest group of trials to be evaluated foradvancement. IN Chicken Dog the unit is all the trials in a givencategory at a given level.

A trial is evaluated as correct if the student clicks on the correctmissing letter (or letters). A unit is all trials from a given categoryat a given level. Trials are presented randomly from all categories atthe current level for each category. A trial from each category ispresented before any category can be repeated. Once all the trials froma given category type at a given level have been presented, thatcategory is evaluated for 90% correct. Table IV below provides detailregarding level/category advancement for Chicken Dog. TABLE IV Category1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4 Beginning Ending Medial Vowel Level 1Beginning Ending Single Short Vowels Consonants: Consonants: Consonants:a, e, I, o, u b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, b, d, g, m, n, p, b, c, d, f, g,h, j, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, t, s: /s/ k, l, m, n, p, r, w, y, z s, t,v, w, z Level 2 Beginning Ending Two Long Vowels Blends: Consonants:Consonants: with Final “e”: bl, cl, fl, pl, sl, x, zz, ff, ll, ss bl,cr, mp, nc, a-e, e—e, i-e, o- br, cr, dr, fr, gr, s: /z/, s: /s/plural,nd, nt, rm, rs, rt, e, u-e pr, tr, sc, sk, sm, s: /z/plural st sn, sp,st, sw Level 3 Beginning Ending Blends: Three Vowel Consonants: mp, nd,ft, lt, nt, Consonants: Digraphs: qu, c: cent, g: gent lf, st, nk, ngbtr, bst, ctr, rtm, ai, ay, oa, ea, ee Beginning ldr, ncl, ncr, Blends:nds, ngr, ntr, scr, spr, spl, str, rnm, rtr, spl str, squ, shr, thr tst,xpl Level 4 Digraphs: Silent Letters: Digraphs and Long Vowels: ch, sh,th, ck, lk Silent Letters in y: sky th(voiced), wh, ph Vowel or VowelSilent Letters: Consonant Digraphs: wr, kn Contexts: au, aw, oo: boot,ch, ck, dg, gh, eu, ew lk, sh, th, ph Diphthongs: ou, ow, oi, oy Level 5Double Long Vowels: Consonants, y: happy One Phoneme: Vowel cc, dd, ff,gg, ll, Digraphs: mm, nn, pp, ss, oo: foot tt r-control: ar, er, ir, or,ur

When a student begins trials in Chicken Dog, words are presented inrandom order without repeating from all four categories at level 1. Atrial from each category is presented before any category can berepeated. Once all trials from a given category at a given level havebeen presented, that category is evaluated. If the student completes 90%of the words correctly then the trials/words from the next level of thatcategory are used. Otherwise, the same trials/words are repeated. If alllevels have been completed with 90% correct responses, then thatcategory is dropped and the trials are chosen randomly from theremaining categories. If any unit (a level of a category) is repeatedthree times without achieving a 90% correct rate, that unit istemporarily dropped and the next level of the current category replacesit. If there are no more levels left in the current category, the unitis not dropped.

Number of Trials:

The number of trials (words) in each category type at each levelcorresponds to a multiple of the number of letters or letter groupslisted in the category description. This is shown below in Table V.TABLE V Number of trials Number of per letter or letters or Trials perCategory Level letter group letter groups category Beginning Level 1 319 57 Beginning Consonants Level 2 3 20 60 Beginning Blends Level 3 3 1030 Beginning Consonants/Blends Level 4 5 8 40 Beginning Digraphs/SilentLetters Ending Level 1 4 8 32 Ending Consonants Level 2 4 8 32 EndingConsonants Level 3 4 9 36 Ending Blends Level 4 3 2 6 Ending SilentLetters Medial Level 1 3 18 54 Single Consonants Level 2 3 10 30 TwoConsonants Level 3 — — 18 Three Consonants Level 4 3 8 24 MedialDigraphs/Silent Letters Level 5 3 10 30 Double Consonants to spell onephoneme Vowel Level 1 5 5 25 Short Vowels Level 2 5 5 25 Long VowelsLevel 3 5 5 25 Vowel Digraphs Level 4 5 10 50 Long Vowels/VowelDigraphs/Diphthongs Level 5 5 7 35 Long Vowels/Vowel Digraphs/r- control609

Referring to FIG. 29, a screen shot 2900 is shown of play at level 2 forthe beginning blend “tr”. The word “icyle” 2920 is presented, and theword “tricyle” is played. The student must select the blend “tr” 2922 tocorrectly answer the trial.

Referring to FIG. 30, a screen shot 3000 is shown illustrating thecompleted word tricyle 3020, and animating Chicken Dog 3002 providingcondiments on the hot dog from the container 3008 that contained theblend “tr”.

Referring now to FIG. 31, a flow chart 3100 is provided illustrating howa student advances through all the levels of all the categories inChicken Dog. Flow begins at block 3102 and proceeds to block 3104 wheredetermination of advancement for the next trial is begun. Flow thenproceeds to decision block 3106.

At decision block 3106, a determination is made as to whether there areany trials remaining within the existing level (for the presentlyselected category). If not, then flow proceeds to decision block 3108.Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 3124.

At block 3124 the next category is randomly selected. For example, givenfour categories (A, B, C, and D), trials are presented randomly acrossall four categories, for each four instances. That is, if the firsttrial is presented in category A, the next trial will come randomly fromcategories B, C, D. If the next trial comes from category C, the trialafter that will come randomly from categories B or D. After a trial ispresented from each category, the process is repeated for the fourcategories. Thus, categories are randomly selected, while insuring thatat least one trial from each category is presented every four trials.This continues until a category is closed (see block 3120). Flow thenproceeds to block 3126.

At block 3126, a trial is randomly selected from the present level, forthe presently selected category. At this point, the trial is selected,and game play continues as defined in FIG. 28.

At decision block 3106, if there are no more trials remaining within thepresent category, within the present level, flow proceeds to decisionblock 3108.

At decision block 3108 a determination is made as to whether the studenthas obtained a 90% correct status for that level. If s/he has, then flowproceeds to decision block 3116. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decisionblock 3110.

At decision block 3110, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has failed the present level, for the present category 3 times?If not, then flow proceeds to block 3114. Otherwise, flow proceeds toblock 3112.

At block 3114, the level for the present category is left open, meaningthat all trials for the present level, for the present category will berepeated. Flow then proceeds to block 3124 where the next category fortrial is selected.

At block 3112, the present level, for the present category is placed atthe end of the line for the category, and the next level is selected forthe present category. That is, if the present category has 4 levels,level 1 has already been passed, and the present level is level 2, thenthe level selected for the present category is level 3, and level 2 isplaced behind level 4, to be repeated later. Flow then proceeds to block3124.

At decision block 3116, a determination is made as to whether any levelsare left in the present category. If there are, flow proceeds to block3118. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 3120.

At block 3118, the present level for the present category is closed, andthe level for the present category is incremented. Flow then proceeds toblock 3124.

At block 3120, the present category is closed. That is, the student hasreached block 3120 because s/he has obtained a 90% correct status acrossall trials, across all levels, for the present category. Thus, thepresent category is removed from the list of randomly selectedcategories (block 3124). Flow then proceeds to decision block 3122.

At decision block 3122, a determination is made as to whether anycategories remain open. If there are, flow proceeds to block 3124 wherethe next open category is selected. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block3128.

At block 3128, the game is complete. The student has arrived at thisblock by obtaining a 90% correct status across all trials, for eachlevel, for each category.

The above has described how the game Chicken Dog, along with itsadaptive training process, trains a student in Spelling and in Decoding.Attention is now directed at the next game in Fast ForWord Reading, agame called Twisted Pictures.

Sentence Comprehension

Twisted Pictures trains students to attend to the syntactic structure ofa sentence by challenging the student to choose the sentence that bestdescribes a picture. Twisted Pictures trains students in recovering thesyntactic structures of sentences ranging from simple sentences inactive voice, to sentences in passive voice, to complex sentences withdifferent types of embedded clauses. As students become proficient, theexercise introduces longer sentences that encourage the student toextend their working memory abilities; the exercise also introduceswords from a more advanced level of vocabulary.

Twisted Pictures presents sentences containing reversible nouns thatcannot be understood by common sense alone (such as The monkey is payingthe snake), which forces students to use text-driven logic to understandeach sentence. Twisted Pictures also uses a common set of nouns andverbs in each set of sentences, which forces students to pay closeattention to syntax and also helps students work on automatic wordidentification.

Twisted Pictures uses a multiple-choice format to train:

-   -   Sentence comprehension: The student must comprehend each        presented sentence in order to choose the sentence that best        describes the picture on the screen.    -   Syntax: Twisted Pictures presents 17 syntactic structures of        varying complexity.    -   Working memory: The student must hold each word of the four        presented sentences in mind to construct a gist for each        sentence, and then must hold those gists in mind while choosing        the correct sentence. As the exercise progresses, the sentences        become longer, thus stretching working memory to its optimal        capacity.    -   Logical reasoning: Because sentences use reversible nouns,        similar vocabulary, and similar syntax, the student must use        logic reasoning, and make inferences rather than relying only on        common sense to comprehend each sentence and choose the correct        sentence.    -   Vocabulary: As the student progresses, Twisted Pictures presents        sentences that use more advanced vocabulary words.

Referring now to FIG. 32, a screen shot 3200 is provided illustratingthe opening scene for the game Twisted Pictures. The game screen 3200 issomewhat similar to the other games described above, having a yellow paw3202 that must be selected by a student to start a trial, a counter 3204for keeping track of the student's score, and a timer 3206 forindicating a relative time remaining for game play. In addition, thereis a frame 3208 for holding a painting associated with each trial, and aparchment 3210 for holding four sentences, one that correctly describesthe picture in the frame 3208, and three foils. The student must selectthe sentence that correctly describes the picture.

Referring now to FIG. 33, a screen shot 3300 is provided illustratingthe first trial presented to the student. The screen 3300 contains apicture 3312 of a rat, and a cat in a cafe. The four sentences providedon the parchment 3310 for selection are: 1) The rat is dancing; 2) Thebird is dancing; 3) The rat is sitting; and 4) The cat is sitting. Thesentence that correctly describes the picture is “The rat is sitting.”The first time the student plays Twisted Pictures, the correct sentenceflashes to indicate the correct selection. When the student selects “Therat is sitting”, a “ding” is played, indicating correct selection, andthe screen removes the picture 3312 and sentences on the parchment 3310,leaving the screen like that shown in FIG. 32.

Referring now to FIG. 34, a screen shot 3400 is shown illustrating anincorrect selection. The screen shows a picture 3412 of a cat holding agreen ball, and a dog holding a white ball. The four sentences providedon the parchment 3410 are: 1) The dog that played with the cat that hasa green ball has a white ball (correct); 2) The dog that played with thecat that has a white ball has a white ball (incorrect); 3) The dog thatplayed with the cat that has a green ball has a green ball (incorrect);and 4) The dog that played with the cat that has a white ball has agreen ball (incorrect). When the student selects sentence 2, a “thunk”is played, indicating that the student incorrectly selected a sentence.In addition, the incorrect sentences are removed, and the correctsentence (in this case sentence 1) is highlighted to indicate to thestudent the correct sentence. The screen is then cleared back to thestate shown in FIG. 32.

Referring now to FIG. 35, a screen shot 3500 is shown of a more complexsentence structure (provided at a more advanced training level in theprogram). The scene 3500 has a picture 3512 of a sheepdog and anarmadillo playing music outside a tent. The four sentences provided onthe parchment 3510 are: 1) The talented sheepdog is playing with theamusing armadillo inside the tent; 2) The talented sheepdog is playingwithout the amusing armadillo inside the tent; 3) The amazing armadillois playing without the talented sheepdog under the stars; and 4) Thetalented sheepdog is playing with the amusing armadillo under the stars.The correct sentence, of course, is sentence 4.

Progressing through Twisted Pictures

Twisted Pictures progresses through three levels of difficulty asfollows:

-   -   Level 1: The student trains on sentences that contain, on        average, 6 words.    -   Words are at the 2^(nd) grade level at highest.    -   Level 2: The student trains on sentences that contain, on        average, 8 words.    -   Words are at the 3^(rd) grade level at highest.    -   Level 3: The student trains on sentences that contain, on        average, 12 words.    -   Words are at the 4^(th) grade level at highest.

At each level, Twisted Pictures presents 6 tiers of syntacticcomplexity. Each tier contains several different syntactic structures(called categories) that are all mastered at roughly the same age. Acomplete listing of the trials at the different levels is provided belowin Appendix D.

Terms:

Tier: The syntactic complexity tier refers to hierarchical groupings ofsyntactic categories in the “TwistedPicturesSampleStims.doc”.

Category: The syntactic complexity category refers to a specificsyntactic structure. There are 17 syntactic categories. There are fourtrails in each category in each level.

Unit: A unit is always the smallest group of trials to be evaluated foradvancement. In Twisted Pictures the unit includes all the trials in agiven level (68 trials). TABLE VI Number of trials per syntacticVocabulary Level category Sentence Length (max grade level) 1 4 average6, max 10 2^(nd) 2 4 average 8, max 12 3^(rd) 3 4 average 12, max 184^(th)Evaluation of Trial:

A trial is evaluated as correct if the participant clicks on the correctsentence for the current picture.

Evaluation of Unit:

A unit includes all trials from a given level (68 trials). All thetrials from a level are presented before any trials are evaluated. Atthat point, the trials are evaluated for 90% correct.

Adaptivity:

Twisted Pictures adapts to the student's incoming skill level and, asthe student continues to train, tracks the number of correct andincorrect answers and adjusts the training level when the student isready to advance. Twisted Pictures trains all syntax at each level,therefore does not advance the student until s/he is prepared to trainon syntax in longer sentences and with more difficult vocabulary words.This approach ensures that the student is challenged but not frustrated,which in turn ensures that the student continues to pay attention to andenjoy the training, as well as continues to learn and progress in theexercise.

Advancement:

Twisted Pictures presents syntactic structure categories in variableorder to give the student exposure to all syntactic structures. Thisstrategy simulates real-life situations in which the student issurrounded by people using a variety of syntactic structures in everydayconversation. It also prevents the student from advancing steadily andthen suddenly getting stuck, becoming frustrated, and withdrawingattention from the training.

Initially, the student is presented with a trial from a first category,like Simple Negation, which is a 1^(st) tier of syntactical complexity.After the student chooses the most accurate sentence for the trial,Twisted Pictures presents three more trials from the Simple Negationcategory. When the student has completed all four Simple Negationtrials, Twisted Pictures might present a trial from the EmbeddedPassives category, which is in the 6^(th) tier of syntacticalcomplexity. After the student has completed all the trials in one level,Twisted Pictures evaluates all the trials for that level. If the studenthas chosen 90 percent of the sentences correctly, Twisted Picturesadvances to the next level.

Referring now to FIGS. 36 and 37, flow charts 3600 and 3700 are providedto particularly illustrate game play in Twisted Pictures, as well as themethodology for advancing a student in game play. Game play begins atblock 3602 and proceeds to decision block 3604.

At block 3604, a decision is made as to whether the student has selectedthe yellow paw 3202. If not, flow continues at decision block 3604 untilthe paw 3202 is selected. When selected, flow proceeds to block 3606.

At block 3606, a trial is selected according to the methodologydescribed below with reference to FIG. 37. Flow then proceeds to block3608.

At block 3608, the selected trial is presented. Flow then proceeds todecision block 3610.

At decision block block 3610, a determination is made as to whether thestudent correctly or incorrectly responded to the trial. If correct,flow proceeds to block 3614. Otherwise flow proceeds to block 3612.

At block 3612, a “thunk” is played to indicate to the student thathis/her response was incorrect. In addition, the correct answer ishighlighted, and the trial is recorded. That is, the syntacticalcategory, level, and sentence group, along with the outcome (correct orincorrect) are recorded. Flow then proceeds back to decision block 3604to await initiation of another trial.

At block 3614, a “ding” is played to indicate to the student thathis/her response was correct. In addition, the correct answer ishighlighted, and the trial is recorded. That is, the syntacticalcategory, level, and sentence group, along with the outcome (correct orincorrect) are recorded. Flow then proceeds back to decision block 3604to await initiation of another trial.

Referring now to FIG. 37, a flow chart 3700 is provided illustrating theadvancement methodology for the game Twisted Pictures. Flow begins atblock 3702 and proceeds to block 3704.

At block 3704, the training level is set to Level 1. Flow then proceedsto block 3706.

At block 3706, the program randomly chooses a syntactical category fortraining from all of the remaining categories at the present level.Initially, all the syntactical categories at level 1 are available.However, as the student correctly responds to trials within asyntactical category, those categories will be marked completed (inblock 3716). So, block 3706 is responsible for choosing a syntacticalcategory, at the present level, from those categories that are not yetmarked completed. Flow then proceeds to block 3708.

At block 3708, the program randomly chooses a trial from within thechosen syntactical category from the list of remaining trials within thechosen syntactical category. Initially, all of the trials within thechosen syntactical category are available. However, after a trial ispresented, it is marked complete (at bock 3712). Thus, block 3708 isresponsible for choosing a trial, within the chosen syntacticalcategory, from those trials not yet marked completed. Flow then proceedsto decision block 3710.

At decision block 3710, a determination is made as to whether all thetrials within the chosen syntactical category have been presented. Inone embodiment, there are four trials within each syntactical category,at each level. If all the trials have not been presented, flow proceedsto block 3712. Otherwise flow proceeds to decision block 3714.

At block 3712, the present trial is marked complete. Flow then proceedsto block 3708 where another trial from the present syntactical categoryis chosen.

At decision block 3714, a determination is made as to whether allsyntactical categories, at the present level, have been completed. Ifnot, flow proceeds to block 3716. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decisionblock 3718.

At block 3716, the present syntactical category is marked complete. Flowthen proceeds back to block 3706 where the program randomly choosesanother syntactical category from the remaining categories.

At decision block 3718, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has responded correctly to at least 90% of the trials across allsyntactical categories at the present level. If not, flow proceeds toblock 3720. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 3722.

At block 3720, all syntactical categories, and all trials within thosesyntactical categories, are reset, so that they may again be selected byblock 3706/3708. That is, since the student has not correctly respondedto 90% of the trials, s/he is required to repeat those trials, at thepresent level, albeit in random order. Flow then proceeds back to block3706.

At decision block 3722, a determination is made as to whether all levelshave been completed. If not, flow proceeds to block 3724. Otherwise, thestudent has correctly responded to at least 90% of the trials, for allsyntactical categories, for all levels, so the training ends, at block3726.

The next two games in the program Fast ForWord Reading (Book Monkeys andHog Hat Zone) deal primarily with Paragraph Comprehension, although theyrequire and build on aspects trained in the other games, includingDecoding, Spelling and Sentence Comprehension.

Book Monkeys exercises the student to read a paragraph and then answersquestions to demonstrate their comprehension of the paragraph. Some ofthe paragraphs are fiction and others nonfiction. There are sixquestions about each paragraph split into a number of question types(i.e. literal, inferential, and causative). There are four answerchoices for each question. To reduce the memory load, the paragraph ispresented again after the second question is answered and again afterthe fourth question is answered. If any questions are answeredincorrectly, the paragraph is displayed again followed by theincorrectly answered questions. A complete list of the stimuli used inBook Monkeys may be found in Appendix E attached hereto.

Book Monkeys uses a question and answer, multiple choice format totrain:

-   -   Literal comprehension: For each paragraph, Book Monkeys presents        two questions (out of six total) that ask the student to recall        facts from the paragraph, such as the main point.    -   Causative comprehension: For each paragraph, Book Monkeys        presents two questions (out of six total) about the cause of the        events within the paragraph.    -   Inferential comprehension: For each paragraph, Book Monkeys        presents two questions (out of six total) that ask the student        about various hypothesis s/he needed to form in order to        understand the text.    -   Working memory: The student must hold in working memory the gist        of the paragraph, as well as important details, to answer the        questions correctly.    -   Vocabulary: As the student progresses, Book Monkeys presents        longer paragraphs that use more advanced vocabulary words. In        addition, Book Monkeys regularly asks students to use context to        identify the meaning of a word that is from 1 to 3 grade levels        above the vocabulary level of the paragraph.

By training students in literal, causal, and inferential comprehension,Book Monkeys trains students to extract the main point from aparagraph—the gist—which contributes to comprehension of longerpassages. Understanding causal connections is important forcomprehending the links between ideas and comprehending longer passagesas well as for remembering text. The ability to make correct inferences,such as who a pronoun refers to and what the best title for theparagraph might be, is important for understanding the links betweenwords, between sentences, and for forming a coherent gist of a writtenwork. Developing working memory abilities helps the student not onlykeep the gist of the paragraph in mind but also read and comprehendlonger, more complicated texts. Vocabulary skills contribute toautomatic word recognition, an important factor in fluent reading. Thequestions used in Book Monkeys directly measure the student's ability toread for literal meaning, causal connection, and his or her ability touse working memory effectively not only to remember facts andconnections but also to make inferences.

Table VII below lists the question types trained on in Book Monkeys.TABLE VII Question Question Type Description Example Literal True orFalse Which of the following is a true statement about the paragraph?Causative Cause and Mike got up early that morning because? EffectInferential Title Which of the following would be the best title forthis paragraph? Next Which of the following is most likely to be thenext line? Word Which is the meaning of ♯   ♭(a word used in theparagraph)? These words could be multiple meaning words use in a certainsense in the paragraph. [These words should be from a higher vocabularygrade level than the paragraphs]. Pronoun Who does he (the pronoun “he”in the paragraph) refer to?

Referring now to FIG. 38, a screen shot 3800 is shown of the openingscene in the game Book Monkeys. The setting is a library. As in theother games, a yellow paw 3802 is provided to allow a student toinitiate a trial. A counter 3804 is provided to indicate the student'sscore, and a timer 3806 is provided to indicate a relative amount oftime remaining for game play.

Referring now to FIG. 39, a screen shot 3900 is shown that is presentedafter a student selects the yellow paw 3902. A book 3908 appearscontaining a story 3910. The student is aurally told to read the story,and when finished, to click the sign “done reading” 3912. The first timethe student plays Book Monkey's, the “done reading” sign 3912 flashes toindicate to the student what they are to select. When the student isfinished reading the story 3910, s/he presses the “done reading” sign3912, and is taken to the screen presented in FIG. 40, to whichattention is now directed.

In FIG. 40, a screen shot 4000 is shown presenting a question 4014, andfour answers 4016. There is one correct answer, and three foils for eachquestion 4014. The student is to read the question 4014, and select theanswer that most nearly matches the question. If the student selects thecorrect answer 4016, a “ding” is played, indicating a correct selection,and the correct selection is highlighted. If the student selects anincorrect answer, a “thunk” is played, and the question and answersdisappear. However, the next time the question is repeated, theincorrect answer that was selected is “grayed” out so that it is notavailable for selection. This is shown in FIG. 41, in the screen shot4100, with the grayed out answer 4118.

Progression through Book Monkeys

Book Monkeys progresses through two levels of difficulty as follows:

-   -   Level 1: The student trains on paragraphs of around 6 sentences;        each sentence contains, on average, 10 words. Words are at the        2^(nd) grade level at highest.    -   Level 2: The student trains on paragraphs of around 7 sentences;        each sentence contains on average 12 words. Words are at the        3^(rd) grade level at highest.

At each level, Book Monkeys presents four nonfiction paragraphs and sixfiction paragraphs. After the student has read a paragraph, Book Monkeysasks the student:

-   -   Two literal questions of a true-false nature    -   Two causative questions regarding-causes of events within the        paragraph    -   Two inferential questions that require the student to formulate        a hypothesis about certain components of the paragraph. The two        inferential questions are chosen from four possible types:        -   The most appropriate title for the paragraph        -   What is most likely to happen next        -   The meaning of a particular word        -   Whom or what a particular pronoun refers to            Adaptivity

Book Monkey's adapts to the student's incoming skill level and, as thestudent continues to train, tracks the number of correct and incorrectanswers and adjusts the training level when the student is ready toadvance. However, Book Monkeys trains all categories of questions ateach level, therefore does not advance the student to the second leveluntil s/he is prepared to answer the same types of literal, causative,and inferential questions about longer paragraphs that contain longersentences with more difficult vocabulary words. This approach ensuresthat the student is challenged but not frustrated, which in turn ensuresthat the student continues to pay attention to and enjoy the training,as well as continues to learn and progress in the exercise.

After Book Monkeys presents a paragraph and six questions about thatparagraph, Book Monkeys evaluates the student's responses. If thestudent answered all six questions correctly, Book Monkeys activates theyellow paw and allows the student to go on to the next paragraph. If thestudent has not answered a question correctly, Book Monkeys gives thestudent two more tries at it.

During the student's second attempt to answer a question correctly, BookMonkeys displays the paragraph again and the librarian repeats thequestion. The monkeys give the student the same four choices, but BookMonkeys grays out and deactivates the incorrect answer the student chosethe first time.

After the student responds, Book Monkeys displays another question thatwasn't correctly answered (if there are any). After Book Monkeys cyclesthrough all the questions that the student didn't answer correctly thefirst time around, Book Monkeys evaluates the student's responses.

If the student still has not answered a question correctly, Book Monkeysgives the student one last try. During the student's third attempt toanswer a question correctly, Book Monkeys displays the paragraph againand the librarian repeats the question. The monkeys give the student thesame four choices, and Book Monkeys grays out and deactivates bothincorrect answers that the student chose the first two times. If thestudent answers correctly, Book Monkeys displays the next questions thathave not yet been correctly answered (if any). If the student doesn'tchoose the correct answer on the third try, Book Monkeys highlights thecorrect answer.

Book Monkeys does not give the student a fourth try at questions thatthe student has not answered correctly; after the third round ofattempts, Book Monkeys activates the yellow paw and allows the studentto progress to the next paragraph.

After the student has completed all the trials in one level, BookMonkeys evaluates all the trials for that level. In evaluating trialsfor advancement, Book Monkeys only considers the student's firstresponse to each question. If the student has chosen 95 percent of theanswers correctly on the first try, Book Monkeys advances to the nextlevel.

Referring now to FIGS. 42 a-c, a flow chart 4200 is providedillustrating the training and advancement methodology within the gameBook Monkeys. Flow begins at block 4202 and proceeds to block 4204.

At block 4204 the training level is set to Level 1. Flow then proceedsto decision block 4206.

At decision block 4206, a determination is made as to whether thestudent has selected the yellow paw, and thereby initiating a trial.Flow remains at decision block 4206 until the student selects the paw.Once selected, flow proceeds to block 4208. [00245] At block 4208, aparagraph is randomly selected from the set of paragraphs provided atthe current training level. Initially, the Level is 1, and allparagraphs are available for selection. However, as the studentprogresses through the paragraphs, the remaining paragraphs are randomlyselected, until all paragraphs have been played. Once a paragraph isselected, flow proceeds to block 4210.

At block 4210, the paragraph is presented to the student as shown inFIG. 39. Flow then proceeds to decision block 4212.

Flow remains at decision block 4212 until the student selects the “donereading” icon on the screen (as shown in FIG. 39). Once selected, flowproceeds to block 4214.

At block 4214, a question type is randomly selected for the presentparagraph from the remaining question types. Initially, all questiontypes are available for the present paragraph. However, as the studentadvances through the question types, a selection is made from theremaining-question types until all types have been presented. Flow thenproceeds to block 4216.

At block 4216, a question is randomly selected from the remainingquestions for the present question type. Initially, all questions forthe present question type are available. However, as the studentadvances through the questions, a selection is made from the remainingquestions until all questions have been presented. Flow then proceeds toblock 4218.

At block 4218, the present question is presented to the student. Flowthen proceeds to decision block 4220.

At block 4220, a determination is made as to whether the studentcorrectly answered the presented question. If not, flow proceeds toblock 4222. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 4224.

At block 4222, a “thunk” is played indicating an incorrect answer. Theanswer is recorded as incorrect, and flow proceeds to decision block4226.

At block 4224, a “ding” is played to indicate a correct answer. Theanswer is recorded as correct, and flow proceeds to decision block 4226.

At decision block 4226, a determination is made as to whether there areany more questions remaining for the present question type. If not, flowproceeds to block 4234. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 4228.

At decision block 4228, a determination is made as to whether twoquestions in a row have been presented to the student. In oneembodiment, Book Monkeys repeats the present paragraph after every twoquestions. Book Monkeys recognizes that a student's memory may need tobe refreshed for following questions, and therefore provides them withaccess to the paragraph every two questions. If there have not been twoquestions in a row, flow proceeds back to block 4216 where anotherquestion for the present question type is selected. Otherwise, flowproceeds to block 4330.

At block 4330, the present paragraph is repeated. Flow then proceeds todecision block 4232.

Flow remains at decision block 4232 until the student selects the “donereading” icon. Flow then proceeds back to block 4216 where anotherquestion for the present question type is selected.

At block 4234, the present question type is marked complete. That is,there are no more questions remaining to be asked for the presentquestion type. Flow then proceeds to decision block 4236.

At decision block 4236, a determination is made as to whether there areany more question types for the present paragraph. If so, then flowproceeds back to block 4210 where the paragraph is again presented, andthe above described sequence continues until all questions for allquestion types, at the present level, for the present paragraph, havebeen presented. If there are no more question types for the presentparagraph, flow proceeds to decision block 4238.

At decision block 4238, a determination is made as to whether thestudent correctly answered all the questions for all the question typesfor the present paragraph, on the first attempt. If not, flow proceedsto block 4244. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 4242.

At block 4244, the present paragraph is again repeated. Flow thenproceeds to block 4246.

At block 4246, all of the questions that were incorrectly answered onthe 1^(st) attempt, for all of the question types, are repeated, one ata time, to allow the student to correctly answer the questions. Thestudent is given two opportunities to answer each outstanding questioncorrectly. As mentioned above, previous incorrect answers are grayed outand deactivated to give the student a better opportunity to answercorrectly. Whether or not the student answers the outstanding questionscorrectly, after two attempt, flow proceeds to block 4242.

At block 4242, the present paragraph is marked complete. Flow thenproceeds to decision block 4240.

At decision block 4240, a determination is made as to whether all of theparagraphs for the present level have been completed. If not, flowproceeds back to block 4208 where a new paragraph is selected forpresentation. However, if all paragraphs at the present level have beencompleted, flow proceeds to decision block 4248.

At decision block 4248, a determination is made as to whether thestudent correctly answered at least 95% of the questions, for allquestion types, for all paragraphs, at the present level. If not, thenflow proceeds to block 4250. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block4252.

At block 4250, all questions, question types, and paragraphs are reset,and flow proceeds back to block 4208 to train again, as described above.The student will continue in this training process until s/he hasachieved a 95% success rate across all paragraphs, on the 1^(st)attempt.

At decision block 4252, a determination is made as to whether there areany more levels for training. If not, flow proceeds to block 4254 wheretraining on Book Monkeys ends. However, if there are more levels oftraining, flow proceeds to block 4256.

At block 4256, the training level is increased. For example, if thestudent correctly passes 95% of the questions for level 1, the traininglevel is incremented to level 2. Flow then proceeds back to block 4208where training begins with new paragraphs for the new training level.

Hog Hat Zone

The last game in the Fast ForWord Reading program is called Hog HatZone. This game focuses on helping the student improve paragraphcomprehension skills and understanding of morphological complexity inthe following ways:

-   -   Paragraph comprehension: Hog Hat zone presents paragraphs        excerpted from classic children's literature that are missing        morphologically important words—words that affect the meaning of        the sentence. The missing words follow the progression of        students' acquisition of pronouns, plural and possessive nouns,        auxiliary verbs, third person singular and past tense verbs,        derivational affixes (prefixes and suffixes that change a word's        meaning or part of speech), and contractions. Understanding        these morphologically important words and how they are spelled        in English is crucial for understanding the links between words,        the meaning of a sentence, and the relationships between        sentences.    -   Morphological complexity: Hog Hat Zone displays four choices for        each missing word: one choice is the correct word, and the other        three choices are foils—incorrect choices closely related to the        correct choice. The foils are systematically chosen to include        words that are commonly confused with the correct word, and they        are similar to the correct word either morphologically (through        similar root words, affixes, or parts of speech) or        orthographically (though similar spellings or spelling-sound        correspondences).    -   Vocabulary: Hog Hat Zone trains students to recognize and        correctly use morphological affixes—prefixes and suffixes.        Because comprehension of morphological changes leads to        vocabulary growth in 3^(rd) grade and beyond, Hog Hat Zone helps        students increase their vocabulary skills.

Referring now to FIG. 43, an initial screen shot 4300 is shown for thegame Hog Hat Zone. As in the other games described above, the screencontains a yellow paw 4302 for initiating a trial, a score counter 4304,and a timer 4306 to indicate a relative amount of remaining time. Thesetting for Hog Hat Zone is that of a construction site. Either steelpipes, or beams, are provided which are not connected to each other.Additional lengths of pipe 4310 are provided that are to be inserted onthe pipes 4308 to complete the construction. When the student selectsthe yellow paw 4302, s/he is taken to the screen 4400 of FIG. 44, towhich attention is now directed.

On top of the pipes 4408 are placed a sentence or two that is missing akey word or words. The additional lengths of pipes 4410 are providedwith four words which may be selected for insertion into the first breakin the pipes 4408. One of these words is the correct word, and the otherthree are foils. If the student selects the correct word, in this case,the word “her”, a “ding” is played to indicate the correct selection,and the student is presented with screen 4500 of FIG. 45, to whichattention is now directed.

The first word “her” 4512 that was selected, has been inserted into thepipe 4508 to complete the pipe. Since there is still a break in anotherpipe, the student must select the next correct word. If the studentselects an incorrect word, a “thunk” is played to indicate an incorrectselection, and the correct word is highlighted and placed on the pipe4508.

Referring now to FIG. 46, a screen shot 4600 is shown illustrating aslightly more advanced trial. The length of the reading, along with thecomplexity of the trial has increased. However, the method of Hog HatZone is still the same: the student must complete construction of thepipe by selecting the correct word.

Progression Through Hog Hat Zone

Hog Hat Zone progresses through four tiers of morphological complexityas follows:

-   -   Tier 1: Pronouns (such as she) and auxiliary verbs (such as        will)    -   Tier 2: Inflectional suffixes, which are suffixes that add        information about number, case, tense, or person, but do not        change a word's part of speech. Inflectional suffixes can be        added to nouns (such as the—s in cats) and verbs (such as worked        and working).    -   Tier 3: Prefixes (such as the re- in reheat) and derivational        suffixes, which are suffixes that change a word's meaning (such        as the—less in useless) and often its part of speech (such as        the th that changes heal to health)    -   Tier 4: Diectic pronouns, which are pronouns that point to        something (such as here); possessives (such as Mike's); and        contractions (such as they're). Many of these pronouns are        challenging because they have highly confusable homophones (for        instance, they're has two homophones: there and their).

Within each tier, Hog Hat Zone presents two units. The first unitpresents paragraphs of 2 to 3 lines displayed on pipes, and the secondunit presents paragraphs of 4 to 5 lines displayed on girders. After thestudent has completed the first unit (shorter paragraphs on pipes), HogHat Zone presents the second unit (longer paragraphs on girders).

Adaptivity and Advancement

Hog Hat Zone adapts to the student's incoming skill level and, as thestudent continues to train, tracks the number of correct and incorrectanswers and adjusts the training level when the student is ready toadvance or needs to transition to different training material. Morespecifically, Hog Hat Zone presents the categories within a tier inrandom order. The student trains on 10 different trials per category.After the student trains on all trials in a tier, Hog Hat Zone evaluatesall the trials in that tier for advancement. If the student correctlycompleted 90 percent of the trials in the first unit (pipes and shorterparagraphs) and 90 percent of the trials in the second unit (girders andlonger paragraphs), Hog Hat Zone advances to the next tier.

Hot Hat Zone allows a student who is not progressing in one area tocontinue to advance in other areas. To accomplish this goal, Hog HatZone uses plateau-based transitions to allow the student to train ondifferent material when the student becomes stuck in a unit of a tier—orin a tier—and is not able to progress immediately. If the student didnot correctly complete 90 percent of the trials in one unit oranother—or both—Hog Hat Zone presents that unit (or both units) again.If the student repeats a unit 3 times but does not achieve 90 percentcorrect, Hog Hat Zone presents the next tier.

For example, if a student is training on pronouns and auxiliary verbs intier 1 and is having trouble in both units with deictic pronouns, whichare pronouns that point to something (These are the shoes I want), HogHat Zone presents the tier 1 paragraphs again. If the student completesthe first unit (the shorter paragraphs on the pipes) with 90 percentaccuracy, but is still having trouble with the second unit (longerparagraphs on girders), Hog Hat Zone presents the second unit of tier 1paragraphs again. If the student is unable to complete the second unitwith 90 percent accuracy after 3 tries, Hot Hat Zone transitions thestudent to tier 2, inflectional suffixes and verb tenses.

Before the student completes the exercise—and after the studentcompletes as much of the material in Hog Hat Zone as possible—Hog HatZone returns the student to the units that the student did not completewith 90 percent accuracy. Hog Hat Zone requires the student to train onthese units until s/he achieves 90 percent accuracy. A complete listingof all of the trials, within each tier, are provided in Appendix F whichis attached hereto.

Referring now to FIGS. 47 a-b, a flow chart 4700 is providedillustrating the training and advancement methodology for the game HogHat Zone. Flow begins at block 4702 and proceeds to decision block 4704.

Play remains at decision block 4704 until the student selects the yellowpaw to initiate a trial. Once the student selects the yellow paw, flowproceeds to block 4706.

At block 4706, the Tier and Unit levels are set to 1. Flow then proceedsto block 4708.

At block 4708, the program randomly selects a paragraph from theremaining paragraphs within the present tier and present unit.Initially, the unit and tier are at level 1, and all paragraphs areavailable for selection. However, as the student progresses through thegame, block 4708 chooses remaining paragraphs from the existing tier andunit levels. Flow then proceeds to block 4710.

At block 4710, the present (selected) paragraph is presented to thestudent as a trial. Flow then proceeds to decision block 4712.

At decision block 4712, a determination is made as to whether thestudent's selection was correct. If not, flow proceeds to block 4714.Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 4716.

At block 4714, a “thunk” is played to alert the student of the incorrectanswer, the incorrect response is recorded, and the correct answer isinserted into the pipe (if unit 1) or girder (if unit 2). Flow thenproceeds to decision block 4718.

At block 4716, a “ding” is played to alert the student of the correctanswer, the correct response is recorded, and the correct answer isinserted into the pipe/girder. Flow then proceeds to decision block4718.

At decision block 4718, a determination is made as to whether anothertrial is outstanding for the present paragraph. If not, flow proceeds todecision block 4720. However, if another trial is outstanding, flowproceeds back to decision block 4712 to evaluate the trial.

At decision block 4720, a determination is made as to whether there isanother paragraph within the present unit. If so, flow proceeds back toblock 4708 where another one of the remaining paragraphs is chosen for atrial. Otherwise, all paragraphs for the present unit have beencompleted, and flow proceeds to decision block 4722.

At decision block 4722, a determination is made as to whether thepresent unit is unit 2. That is, have all paragraphs for both units beenpresented? If not, then flow proceeds to block 4724. Otherwise, flowproceeds to decision block 4726.

At block 4724 the present unit is incremented. That is, unit 1 isincremented to unit 2. Flow then proceeds back to block 4708 where theprogram selects a paragraph from the present unit/tier.

At decision block 4726, a determination is made as to whether thestudent correctly responded to 90% of the trials in unit 1. If not, flowproceeds to block 4730. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 4732.

At block 4730, the fact that the student did not achieve 90& correctresponses in unit I is recorded. Flow then proceeds to decision block4732.

At decision block 4732, a determination is made as to whether thestudent correctly responded to 90% of the trials in unit 2. If not, flowproceeds to block 4736. Otherwise, flow proceeds to decision block 4734.

At block 4736, the fact that the student did not achieve 90& correctresponses in unit 2 is recorded. Flow then proceeds to decision block4738.

At decision block 4738, a determination is made as to whethereither/both of units 1 and 2 have been repeated 3 times. If not, flowproceeds to block 4744. Otherwise, flow proceeds to block 4746.

At block 4744, the units that have been recorded to be repeated (inblocks 4730/4736 are repeated per the sequence described above. That is,a student must achieve a 90% correct response in both units before theyare allowed to proceed to the next tier. After the recorded units arerepeated, flow proceeds back to decision block 4726 to determine if thestudent has obtained a 90% correct response. This process continuesuntil either: 1) a 90% correct response is obtained in both units, atthe present tier level; or 2) the student has repeated either or boththe units 3 times. If the student repeats the unit 3 times, flowproceeds to block 4746 (as mentioned above).

At block 4746, the units that were repeated three times, butunsuccessfully, are marked to remain open. Flow then proceeds to block4728.

At block 4728 the present tier is incremented. That is, if the presenttier is 1, the tier is incremented to level 2. Flow then proceeds backto block 4708 where a new paragraph is selected, beginning at unit 1,for the new tier level.

When the program arrives at decision block 4734, it is because thestudent has obtained a 90% correct response for both units at thepresent tier level. A determination is then made as to whether thepresent tier level is the last tier. If it is, flow proceeds to block4740. However, if it is not the last tier level, flow proceeds to block4728 where the present tier level is incremented, and the trainingbegins again as described above.

At block 4740, all open units are completed. That is, all of the unitsthat were attempted three times, and not completed with a 90% correctresponse, were marked open in block 4746, and must be completed beforethe game ends. Game play continues on the open units until a 90% correctresponse is obtained. Flow then proceeds to block 4742 where training inHog Hat Zone ends.

Although the present invention and its objects, features, and advantageshave been described in detail, other embodiments are encompassed by theinvention. For example, particular advancement/promotion methodology hasbeen thoroughly illustrated and described for each game. The methodologyfor advancement of each game is based on studies indicating the need forfrequency, intensity, motivation and cross-training. However, the numberof skill/complexity levels provided for in each game, the number oftrials for each level, and the percentage of correct responses requiredwithin the methodology are not static. Rather, they change, based onheuristic information, as more students utilize the Fast ForWord Readingtraining program. Thus,-the cross-training benefit of multiple languagedevelopment programs should not be restricted to the particularadvancement methodology prescribed in the detailed description. Inaddition, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the stimuli usedfor training, as detailed in the Appendices, are merely a subset ofstimuli that can be used within a training environment similar to FastForWord Reading. Furthermore, although the animal workers, andconstruction settings of the games are entertaining, and thereforemotivational to a student, other storylines can be developed which wouldutilize the unique training methodologies described herein.

Finally, those skilled in the art should appreciate that they canreadily use the disclosed conception and specific embodiments as a basisfor designing or modifying other structures for carrying out the samepurposes of the present invention without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A method on a computing device for training a student's morphologicalcomprehension, comprising: providing a plurality of paragraphs forpresentation to the student on the computing device, each of theplurality of paragraphs having a target word missing; providing aplurality of target words, each associated with at least one of theplurality of paragraphs; providing a plurality of foil words, eachassociated with at least one of the plurality of paragraphs; presentingone of the plurality of paragraphs to the student, along with anassociated target word, and at least one of the associated foil words;requiring the student to select between the presented target word andthe at least one of the associated foil words, to be the missing targetword; recording whether the student selected the missing target word;and repeating said steps of presenting thru recording for each of theplurality of paragraphs.
 2. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein thetarget word missing from each of the plurality of paragraphs aremorphologically important words.
 3. The method as recited in claim 2wherein the morphologically important words comprise: pronouns; andplural and possessive nouns.
 4. The method as recited in claim 3 whereinthe morphologically important words further comprise auxiliary verbs. 5.The method as recited in claim 3 wherein the morphologically importantwords further comprise third person singular verbs.
 6. The method asrecited in claim 3 wherein the morphologically important words furthercomprise past tense verbs.
 7. The method as recited in claim 3 whereinthe morphologically important words further comprise derivationalaffixes.
 8. The method as recited in claim 3 wherein the morphologicallyimportant words further comprise contractions.
 9. The method as recitedin claim 1 wherein the plurality of foil words comprise words that aremorphologically similar to the target presented target word.
 10. Themethod as recited in claim 9 wherein the words that are morphologicallysimilar comprise words that have similar root words, affixes, or partsof speech.
 11. The method as recited in claim 9 wherein the words thatare morphologically similar comprise orthographically similar wordshaving similar spellings or spelling-sound correspondences.
 12. Themethod as recited in claim 1 wherein the plurality of paragraphscomprise a first plurality of paragraphs within a first unit, and asecond plurality of paragraphs within a second unit.
 13. The method asrecited in claim 12 wherein the first plurality of paragraphs comprisesparagraphs of 2 to 3 lines.
 14. The method as recited in claim 12wherein the second plurality of paragraphs comprises paragraphs of 4 to5 lines.
 15. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein each of the firstand second plurality of paragraphs comprise a plurality of tiers ofmorphological complexity.
 16. The method as recited in claim 15 whereinthe plurality of tiers of morphological complexity includes target wordswhich comprise pronouns.
 17. The method as recited in claim 16 whereinthe plurality of tiers of morphological complexity includes target wordswhich further comprise inflectional suffixes.
 18. The method as recitedin claim 16 wherein the plurality of tiers of morphological complexityincludes target words which further comprise prefixes and derivationalsuffixes.
 19. The method as recited in claim 16 wherein the plurality oftiers of morphological complexity includes target words which furthercomprise deictic pronouns.
 20. The method as recited in claim 1 whereinsaid step of presenting comprises graphically presenting one of theplurality of paragraphs to the student, on the computing device, in anentertaining setting.
 21. The method as recited in claim 20 furthercomprising aurally presenting one of the plurality of paragraphs to thestudent.
 22. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said step ofrequiring comprises monitoring a selection by the student between theassociated target word and the at least one of the associated foilwords.
 23. The method as recited in claim 22 wherein the selection ismade when the student moves a mouse cursor over either the associatedtarget word or the at least one of the associated foil words, and clicksa button on the mouse to make the selection.
 24. The method as recitedin claim 15 further comprising: determining whether the student hascorrectly responded to Y% of the trials in a tier; if the student hascorrectly responded to Y% of the trials in a tier, closing out that tierso that it will not be repeated.
 25. The method as recited in claim 24further comprising: if the student has not correctly responded to Y% ofthe trials in a tier, leaving that tier open so that it will berepeated.
 26. The method as recited in claim 25 wherein paragraphsassociated with an open tier are repeated according to said steps ofpresenting, requiring, recording, and if. necessary, repeating.
 27. Themethod as recited in claim 24 wherein Y% comprises 90%.
 28. The methodas recited in claim 25 wherein if the student does not correctly respondto Y% of the trials in a tier, and has repeated that tier X times,leaving that tier open, but advancing to the next tier.
 29. The methodas recited in claim 28 wherein X comprises
 3. 30. The method as recitedin claim 1 wherein the training of the student's morphologicalcomprehension also leads to vocabulary growth.
 31. A method on acomputer for training a student's reading comprehension, the methodutilizing a plurality of tiers of training, each of the tiers having aplurality of paragraphs, each of the plurality of paragraphs having oneor more missing target words, the method comprising: providing aplurality of target words, each associated with at least one of theplurality of paragraphs; providing a plurality of foil words, eachassociated with at least one of the plurality of target words;presenting one of the plurality of paragraphs to the student, along withan associated one of the plurality of target words, and at least one ofits associated foil words; requiring the student to select between theassociated one of the plurality of target words and the at least one ofits associated foil words as the missing target word in the presentedparagraph; recording whether the student correctly selected the one ofthe plurality of target words as the missing target word in thepresented paragraph; repeating said steps of presenting thru recordingfor each of the plurality of paragraphs within a tier.
 32. The method asrecited in claim 31 wherein each of the plurality of tiers of trainingcomprise a plurality of paragraphs with missing target words havingparticular morphological properties.
 33. The method as recited in claim32 wherein the particular morphological properties comprise pronouns.34. The method as recited in claim 33 wherein the particularmorphological properties further comprises auxiliary verbs.
 35. Themethod as recited in claim 33 wherein the particular morphologicalproperties further comprises inflectional suffixes.
 36. The method asrecited in claim 33 wherein the particular morphological propertiesfurther comprises prefixes and derivational suffixes.
 37. The method asrecited in claim 33 wherein the particular morphological propertiesfurther comprises deictic pronouns.
 38. The method as recited in claim31 further comprising: determining whether the student correctlyselected Y% of the missing target words within the tier; and if thestudent correctly selected Y% of the missing target words within thetier, for the presented paragraphs in the tier, closing that tier sothat it will not be repeated.
 39. The method as recited in claim 38further comprising: if the student did not correctly select Y% of themissing target words within the tier, leaving that tier open so that itwill be repeated.
 40. The method as recited in claim 38 furthercomprising: advancing to another one of the plurality of tiers andrepeating said steps of presenting thru repeating.
 41. The method asrecited in claim 40 further comprising: repeating said step of advancinguntil all of the plurality of tiers have been closed.
 42. The method asrecited in claim 31 wherein Y% comprises 90%.